Summer on Lake Ohrid arrives this season with new rules for something many people have been taking for granted - the pedal boat. The prevention unit at the Ohrid police launched the campaign „Safe on Pedal Boats," with which the police want to bring a little order to a place where beach nonchalance has ruled until now.

The message is aimed at both the rental operators and the users. Those who rent out pedal boats along the Ohrid shoreline are obliged, at every rental, to check that the vessel is in working order and to provide life vests for every user, children included. Users, in turn, should know the basic prohibitions: no jumping and shoving off the pedal boat, no operating it under the influence of alcohol or psychotropic substances, and strict respect for the marked navigation zones.

On paper, this is common sense packaged into a campaign. A life vest on the water isn't bureaucracy - it's the difference between an unpleasant moment and a tragedy. The question is whether the campaign will live longer than the first weekend - because around here, prevention too often means a single press conference at the start of the season, followed by silence until the next accident.

Every summer the lake draws thousands of people who are neither strong swimmers nor experienced on the water, and the pedal boat looks harmless precisely because it looks slow. If the new rules are actually enforced - with checks, not just recommendations - Ohrid could get through a summer without a news item that starts with „a person drowned." And that, not the number of leaflets handed out, is the only measure by which this campaign is worth judging.